What’s Driving GM These Days?
Having covered the auto industry for seven years, I continue to read anything related to auto marketing. So I’ve been fascinated by stories about General Motors recently. First its GMAC financing arm announces it will only give car loans to people with credit scores of 700 or above, a very high level compared to what auto lenders had been doing before the financial markets collapsed.
Then a few days later, GM announces its going to be starting a new ad campaign to reassure consumers that there is auto financing available. Meanwhile, stories are surfacing of a possible GM takeover of Chrysler, what would that possibly do to strengthen the GM brand or the company? What’s kept Chrysler going in recent years was its Jeep brand and its Hemi engines, neither of which has much appeal in today’s economic climate.
And GM certainly doesn’t need more dealers to car contend with, which it would get by taking on Chrysler products. Most who watch the business think there are too many auto dealerships now, some are being forced out of business by today’s horrible business climate.
I once wrote that turning GM around isn’t like turning a battleship, it’s like turning an entire fleet. The fleet seems a bit scattered to the winds right now, here’s hoping for the sake of the American economy, it can find a sensible new course soon.
